Contact Your Congressman Regarding Mental Health Parity Guidance

APA is asking its members to urge their legislators to sign on to letters written by Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Reps. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and John Sullivan (R-Okla.) in support of the parity final rule guidance. In the letters, the congressmen ask the Obama Administration to implement the mental health parity rules in full. Currently in effect is an interim rule, which has many gray areas—including the scope and duration of mental health services that must be offered when a qualified health plan currently offers mental health and substance abuse benefits and the application of the rule to Medicaid managed care organizations and/or their carveouts. The deadline to sign on to these letters is Tuesday, May 3. The letters are posted at http://capwiz.com/psychorg/home. Information on the interim final rule appears in Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/45/5/1.3.full.